Labatt Park - Tecumseh Park Becomes Labatt Park

Tecumseh Park Becomes Labatt Park

According to the 1926 Geodetic Survey of Canada (and the subsequent detailed maps printed in 1928), there was a structure situated near what is now the main entrance to the ballpark at 25 Wilson Avenue (at the time, the two entrances to the ballpark were off of Dundas Street—now Riverside Drive—including an art deco entranceway that was demolished in the early 1980s).

According to Mooney Gibson's nephew, George Lambourn, a noted baseball historian in his own right, the residence at 25 Wilson Avenue was the home of the park's cranky caretaker, Jakey Butts, which was destroyed by the Thames River flood of 1937.

This devastating flood damaged the park again, necessitating the construction of the park's third grandstand (1937–2001) and a new clubhouse, with the local Labatt Brewing Company donating $10,000 to renovate the park, as well as deeding the park itself to the City of London on December 31, 1936, with the written provisions that the park remain a public athletic park in perpetuity and that it be renamed "The John Labatt Memorial Athletic Park."

From a sociological-historical perspective, it could be argued that the name change from Tecumseh Park to Labatt Memorial Park highlights the dramatic shift from 19th-Century colonial Canada (where the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh was immortalized throughout Canada for aiding the British in the War of 1812) to more modern times where businesses such as the Labatt Brewing Company exercised considerable influence on the cultural fabric of the day.

At the end of August during the 1950s, Labatt Park annually hosted athletes from across the city's playgrounds competing in a variety of sports during a two- to three-day event, called the "Junior Olympiad." (A P.U.C. Playground Supervisor's Reunion was held on June 24, 2006, at the City-owned Thames Valley Golf Course.)